Attack of the Holiday Photo

I've been a Shutterfly fan for quite awhile, and have used them a couple times to order holiday cards.  All those photo sites are pretty cool, but it's nice that this one is local with a huge selection of holiday cards, especially our favorite, the holiday photo cards, like that this simple, but still colorful one on the left.  Very non-demoninational, goes with any photos you could possibly want, only drawback...my husband would probably not like that yellow, I love it. 

My husband's just a bit fanatical about his Christmas photo cards.  Long before I met him, he would send out oodles of Christmas cards to his friends across the earth, each with a photo of himself in some exotic place.  I was very proud of myself one year when I sent 15 to friends, I felt like such an adult.  Growing up we never sent out cards, and I remember a conversation with my dad a number of years ago when he told me "one day I just decided to stop sending cards, and I've never looked back."   Some years when the stacks of cards waiting to be signed and address looms before us during a busy holiday season, I sure can understand that sentiment.

My first husband had no desire to send cards, it did not fit in with his Jewish traditions.  That may be one of the reasons I was so excited to send my own cards.  Post-divorce, I was living alone for the very first time in my life, in my own apartment, watching my TV shows.   Excuse me, lost myself for a second in that fantasy. 

Anyway, my current (does that sound odd?) husband had to give up his exotic locale photos once we added kids and dogs to the mix.  He never liked my idea of using only the kids in the photo, and he loved the challenge of a) picking a creative idea (we've done soccer jerseys - big surprise, pacifiers, lying on the ground in a circle, funny glasses, etc.) b) getting kids and dogs in place (and not crying, in the case of babies and toddlers) c) setting the timer and leaping over to join us and finally d) waiting to get the film developed while you hoped one came out okay.  You have not lived until you've counted down the seconds waiting for the camera to snap, hoping the dog would not wander off of the baby look away.  The age of digital photos, photoshopping and now multiple photos per card has eliminated much of that excitement.  The cards with multiple photos are also a lovely new addition, since you can pick the best picture of yourself and still please your family with silly photos of them.

Now the excitement revolves around picking through the hundreds for options.  In the past I was a bit obsessed to find a funny, "holiday" (as opposed to Christmas), not religious card.  I am always tempted by the Hanukkah cards, my way to make up for the years of years of Christmas overload during my Jewish upbringing.  Maybe it's because I have boys, but I love this one...got the modern touch, with toys.  Our photos would of course include colorful jerseys and butts.  I can totally relate to the friends who've completely given up on ever getting cards out before Christmas, so go with New Year’s cards or on one case, Valentine's, which was great.  My husband will have none of that, these cards will wish you a happy holiday, Merry Christmas or Seasons Greetings, whether sent out on Dec. 15th or Jan. 15th.  Just to add to the struggle, yes, we've also started a letter, but it is pretty funny, promise.

We often just choose the simple one photo one, because, frankly, it's cheaper and we just have to find that one family photo.  Plus how cute is that reindeer?  It's also got just enough room to scribble our signature, the minimal in personal touches, important when you have 150 to fill out.  So imagine this little number,

 

with this photo?

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Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.